A good investment ?

Tesco current account currently pays 3percent up to £3000 and you can open 2 accounts so that's £6000 taken care of. TSB pay 3 percent up to &1500' Nationwide pay 5 percent up to £2500 and Santander 1.5 percent up to £20000' all easy access but like us, keep your eye on the interest and be ready to move the money if better deals come up, which it is very easy to do.

A word of warning regarding the amount of savings you can have, I've just had a look at how much you can have in Savings before it affects your Pension Credit, according to Age UK it is £10,000. Any Interest is also I believe does not affect Benefit. Do check as I had more than £6,000 & it affected my Employment & Support Allowance (I'm only 61 so not State Pension age)

Lewlew my feelings also. Some folks idea of long term rates and mine are different!

We had £5000 in PBs and hardly won anything.

Wow, newnanny that's amazing about your ring. Congrats on a good investment. Guess diamonds can be a girl's best friend.

I did buy some investments after the 2008/9 crash because of the low prices, then the Footsie started on the rise and I sold. Going in now, prices have been on the rise since Brexit (but who knows!), so it would have to be for the long term I would think.

I decided I didn't have much long term left!

Unless you spent some to get under £8000 in savings you will lose benefits. Why don't you have a nice holiday if you have poor health. Bank interest is poor at the moment but the Footsie is high so you could invest in stocks/shares but if you do get expert advice first. I found out my engagement platinum and diamond ring bought 13 years ago for £3500 has been valued at £10,200 last year.

We got rid of PBs and we had a LOT of them. We were lucky to get £25 every six months for either of us. The largest ever was £50. Very disappointed after 15 years of this. The increase in lower prizes made no difference.

We've topped up our ISAs now, and other vehicles as the allowance for non-ISA savings interest has grown as well.

Besides... I really do not fancy lending my savings to the government any longer!

www.theguardian.com/money/2016/apr/02/unhappy-returns-nsi-cuts-premium-bond-prizes

The reduction reflects the fact that both the total number and value of prizes is being cut. The total value of the prize pot in March was £67m, but in June it is estimated it will be £62m.

As part of the changes there will be fewer higher-value prizes and more smaller ones. For example, it’s predicted there will be just two £100,000 prizes in June, compared with five in March, while the number of £50,000 prizes is set to plummet from 12 to five. By contrast, the total number of £50 and £100 prizes will shoot up from 37,000 last month to an estimated 128,000 in June.

Even with all those extra lower-value prizes in the mix, the odds of winning a prize with each £1 bond number will lengthen to 30,000-1. That compares with the current odds of 26,000-1. The changes partly reflect the fact that NS&I needs to raise less money in the next financial year than it did this year. It is also a response to rivals dropping their rates, making the government-owned institution’s returns look more appealing.

Go to Ethex's web site and look at the community projects there. Many have far better rates of interest than the building societies of banks and are secure.

Do try it!

Good luck. I hope you enjoy the choice.

It might be worth looking into a local Credit Union if you have one near you. I currently get slightly better interest rate with them. They are also very good for low interest loans, just in case you were to need one for a future emergency

Definitely Premium Bonds while bank interest is so low. You never lose the money and stand to win varying amounts. We have made more in winnings in a year than we would have gained interest, albeit just various £25 wins, but there is always the chance of winning more!

Humbertbear financial advisers are no longer free.

I think that premium bonds can be good provided one has a fair amount of money in to get the returns. I think if you have £10000 in premium bonds you will be lucky if you win anything.

hulahoop I am afraid that you are very confused. The least amount of money one can use to buy premium bonds is £100 and the most is £50,000. The money must be in for an entire month before one has a chance of winning anything. If one has less than £50000 in one can elect to have one's winnings added but when the amount reaches £50000 an agreement is made and future winnings are transferred to a bank account. Part or all of the money can be withdrawn at any time. Unfortunately this can now only be done on line which is not convenient for everybody.

Think that Daisyboots has a good point there.

Gently disagree with Humbertbear......an IFA is the last person I would go to for a 'relatively' small amount. I know, I know......NOT AT ALL to be sniffed at. Just saying.........

I don't know what the upper level of savings is now to be able to get pension credit. I think that it was about £8K when my mother claimed it. If it is that level perhaps you could spend the excess on your house so you are stil able to claim pension credit. Savings interest and the returns on premium bonds are rubbish so you wont be able to make up the loss of pension credit with £10K to onvest.

Premium Bonds definitely. Bank deposit accounts are useless at the moment and have been for a couple of years. Took mine out, put it all in PB and win £25/ £50 nearly every month. For holidays and bigger purchases I can withdraw money online immediately and it's in my account within days - hassle free. What's not to like!

Because of interest rates, when I inherited £10K, I put it in a 5-year bond, but even that's pretty dreadful at the moment, so when it matured, I looked carefully at my options. I eventually decided on P2P through Ratesetter.com, which is actually relatively safe, and have been thrilled with the return to date.MIL has also gone with Ratesetter. Or, if you want to go for bricks and mortar, there's a pretty good company called Property Moose where you can buy shares in Buy to Let properies (Since November I've invested £200, which has already risen by not far off 10% per month)

I think you should talk to an independent financial adviser

Seems to me Kent Reliance deserves a consideration at the moment. Of course, depends on the type of account chosen but I'm thinking they're one of the best of a deplorable bunch.

My view would be but something you hope will appreciate in value to dispose of the income so you continue to get your pension credits. If you have bought right you should be able to cash in the asset should you need the cash. The interest rate is hopeless - so you will not make the equivalent funds you need to cover the loss in pension income. Preserving your benefit and tax position has got be no one priority.

Silver and/or gold coins, jewellery, trinkets, purchase cheap, there's a lot sell silver for scrap on ebay and sell when you are ready when the market is good.

For good unbiased advice on savings and any other money matters go online and look at Martin's Money Tips. It's Martin Lewis's website and you can subscribe to the weekly emails for free. He doesn't recommend premium bonds and explains why. An invaluable site.

Always thought you couldn't get money back from premium bonds am I getting confused . I mean premium bonds where you get a number with chance of winning drawn by ernie machine .

Premium bonds while interest rates are low.

I would second premium bonds. Also very easy and quick to get your money out again.

If you need to have instant access to the money, I'd put it in premium bonds. Mine give me better interest, atm, pro rata, than any instant access savings.